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Xiao Guo， a high school first-year student in Beijing， said that her motivation to study was all but gone after the city announced reforms to the college entrance exam， known as gaokao， according to a report in The Beijing News.
In light of Beijing’s education reform plan， revealed on October 21， from 2016， a local student’s English score in the college entrance exam will account for 100 points out of the total 750， down from 150—while Chinese will increase to 180 points from its previous 150. The remaining 20 points will go to the humanities or natural sciences， depending on a student’s course of study.
English exams will be offered twice a year， and examinees can take multiple resits， with their best result going toward the final score， the document said.
In the near future， primary school students will no longer be required to study English grammar or memorize English words before the third grade， according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. Currently， Beijing students start to learn English as soon as they start primary school.
Xiao， who will sit the college entrance exam in 2016， has been studying English since kindergarten and has spent time in many extracurricular English training programs. She had planned to use good grades in English as a way of boosting her chances of getting into a prestigious university.
“I hate the change，” Xiao said. “It’s shattered my confidence in preparing for gaokao.”
Popularizing reform
Beijing is not alone in reducing the importance of English. It is reported that east China’s Jiangsu Province is considering reform that would exclude the English test from the local college entrance exam and replace it with a system like Beijing’s. The students’ English levels will be clas- sified using letter grades， rather than percentile marks， as a reference for college admission.
A student’s gaokao result is the only admission criteria adopted by almost all higher learning institutions in China. After China reintroduced the gaokao system in 1977， English was soon made one of the primary subjects， having the same status as Chinese and mathematics.
College graduates applying for postgraduate programs are also required to pass an English proficiency exam， even if it is irrelevant to their subject， such as with Chinese literature or organic chemistry.
In addition， millions of college students take the country’s many standardized English tests every year， hoping to make their resumés stand out in the highly competitive job market. Assessments of English proficiency have also become ubiquitous in many certification exams， including those for accountants， university professors and engineers.
As a result， English education and training have been given extensive attention in the country’s education system. Chinese students are among the most devoted English learners among their peers in other non-English-speaking countries.
Besides spending many hours studying English in class， children from affluent families are also often sent to extracurricular English training programs by their parents. Despite the price of such programs， many parents from the rising middle class are willing to pay to prepare their children for undergraduate or postgraduate studies overseas.
This English frenzy has generated a multibillion-dollar industry of test-prep schools and training programs.
The Beijing New Oriental School， established in 1993 to offer preparatory programs for the GRE and TOEFL tests， has grown into the New Oriental Education and Technology Group， one of China’s largest education service providers. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006 and has a current mar-ket capitalization of $4.15 billion.
Li Dazhi， a researcher with the China Association of Higher Education， told Xinhua News Agency that China began to stress English learning in the late 1970s， when the country， plagued by low domestic productivity， aspired to learn from the Western world.
“This English fervor is not bad. It illustrates the ambition and the open minds of the Chinese people and their hope to embrace the world and learn from foreign countries，” Li said.
For some though， such a strong emphasis being put on a foreign language has led to complaint. Sang Jinlong， deputy head of the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， said that many students put much more energy， time and money into studying English than they do Chinese. According to him， some students even cut down their Chinese studies to make more time for learning English.
Sang raised his concerns to Beijing Review，“In an increasingly globalized world， learning foreign languages is high on the agenda of every country’s educational institutions. However， not a single country would allow it to happen at the cost of one’s own mother tongue.”
China Business Morning Post， a newspaper in Shenyang， northeast China’s Liaoning Province， carried an editorial on October 22 concerning education reforms relating to English， saying that “studying one’s mother tongue is always an indispensable focus of public education while studying a foreign language is a personal choice.” New learning methods
Increasing numbers of people have been questioning the effectiveness of the China’s English learning obsession. Some say that the English examination system in the country needs to change as it puts too much emphasis on grades and ignores the development of student’s comprehensive language capabilities.
Bao Guangjian， a radar systems engineer in Beijing， said that his English classes in school involved little oral English training， and that he could hardly utter a word when he first had to speak to someone face-to-face.
“My English studies in college were all about memorizing the CET-4 （College English Test Band 4） vocabulary and writing mock exam papers. I have a relatively large vocabulary， but I can only understand little more than 20 percent of a basic conversation in English，” Bao said.
“We do not want students to devote too much time to repetitive learning of English grammar. This kind of learning process makes speaking and listening weaker，” said Li Yi， a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. “Current English education methods and the entire structure of assessment programs have to be rethought.”
The reforms in Beijing and other places have unleashed a torrent of support from netizens who have long complained about the huge burden brought by excessive English examinations.
According to an online survey initiated by news portal Sina.com on October 21， around 72.5 percent of the respondents supported lessening the importance of English in gaokao， while 22.7 percent opposed it.
Li said that China’s test-oriented English education was ineffective in making students more internationalized.
“I find that there are many college students who have good English grades but are actually‘deaf and dumb’ when it comes to using the language for communicating. Many of them also know very little about Western culture，” Li noted.
Chu Zhaohui， a research fellow with the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， said that reducing English’s share of the total college entrance exam score does not mean that the importance attached to the language has lessened. Instead， according to him， it intends to highlight practical application of the language. For example， after the reform of English testing is implemented， the percentage of points allocated to listening comprehension will actually increase to 30 percent， compared to the 20 percent it accounted for before. Sang told Beijing Review he expects further reforms by Beijing’s education authorities to make the learning of the language more application-oriented.
Despite widespread opposition to excessive focus on exams， many parents said that they still attach great importance to their children’s English education as it continues to have an impact on their future.
“English learning can help broaden children’s horizons and help them understand different cultures，” said Chen Weiping， father of an 8-year-old who opposes Wang’s call to scrap English classes in primary schools.
“Primary school students studying English is fine. Just don’t give them too many exams，”Chen said.
Parent enthusiasm for extracurricular English training programs has not dampened either. Cheng Da， father of a fourth-grade student， said that his son’s English training programs， which focus on speaking ability， cost his family more than 10，000 yuan （$1，600） a year.
“Of all the subjects taught in schools， English is the most useful， as it facilitates communication，” Cheng said. “Even if English was no longer tested in the college entrance exam， I would not stop supporting my son’s oral English lessons.”
In September， the Ministry of Education issued the second draft of regulations on reducing students’ academic burdens. It proposed canceling unified English examinations in primary schools in an attempt to make English education less test-oriented.
Experts and the public have generally expressed support for the initiative， saying it will help lighten students’ workload while allowing them to focus more on cultural and practical subjects.
In light of Beijing’s education reform plan， revealed on October 21， from 2016， a local student’s English score in the college entrance exam will account for 100 points out of the total 750， down from 150—while Chinese will increase to 180 points from its previous 150. The remaining 20 points will go to the humanities or natural sciences， depending on a student’s course of study.
English exams will be offered twice a year， and examinees can take multiple resits， with their best result going toward the final score， the document said.
In the near future， primary school students will no longer be required to study English grammar or memorize English words before the third grade， according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. Currently， Beijing students start to learn English as soon as they start primary school.
Xiao， who will sit the college entrance exam in 2016， has been studying English since kindergarten and has spent time in many extracurricular English training programs. She had planned to use good grades in English as a way of boosting her chances of getting into a prestigious university.
“I hate the change，” Xiao said. “It’s shattered my confidence in preparing for gaokao.”
Popularizing reform
Beijing is not alone in reducing the importance of English. It is reported that east China’s Jiangsu Province is considering reform that would exclude the English test from the local college entrance exam and replace it with a system like Beijing’s. The students’ English levels will be clas- sified using letter grades， rather than percentile marks， as a reference for college admission.
A student’s gaokao result is the only admission criteria adopted by almost all higher learning institutions in China. After China reintroduced the gaokao system in 1977， English was soon made one of the primary subjects， having the same status as Chinese and mathematics.
College graduates applying for postgraduate programs are also required to pass an English proficiency exam， even if it is irrelevant to their subject， such as with Chinese literature or organic chemistry.
In addition， millions of college students take the country’s many standardized English tests every year， hoping to make their resumés stand out in the highly competitive job market. Assessments of English proficiency have also become ubiquitous in many certification exams， including those for accountants， university professors and engineers.
As a result， English education and training have been given extensive attention in the country’s education system. Chinese students are among the most devoted English learners among their peers in other non-English-speaking countries.
Besides spending many hours studying English in class， children from affluent families are also often sent to extracurricular English training programs by their parents. Despite the price of such programs， many parents from the rising middle class are willing to pay to prepare their children for undergraduate or postgraduate studies overseas.
This English frenzy has generated a multibillion-dollar industry of test-prep schools and training programs.
The Beijing New Oriental School， established in 1993 to offer preparatory programs for the GRE and TOEFL tests， has grown into the New Oriental Education and Technology Group， one of China’s largest education service providers. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006 and has a current mar-ket capitalization of $4.15 billion.
Li Dazhi， a researcher with the China Association of Higher Education， told Xinhua News Agency that China began to stress English learning in the late 1970s， when the country， plagued by low domestic productivity， aspired to learn from the Western world.
“This English fervor is not bad. It illustrates the ambition and the open minds of the Chinese people and their hope to embrace the world and learn from foreign countries，” Li said.
For some though， such a strong emphasis being put on a foreign language has led to complaint. Sang Jinlong， deputy head of the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， said that many students put much more energy， time and money into studying English than they do Chinese. According to him， some students even cut down their Chinese studies to make more time for learning English.
Sang raised his concerns to Beijing Review，“In an increasingly globalized world， learning foreign languages is high on the agenda of every country’s educational institutions. However， not a single country would allow it to happen at the cost of one’s own mother tongue.”
China Business Morning Post， a newspaper in Shenyang， northeast China’s Liaoning Province， carried an editorial on October 22 concerning education reforms relating to English， saying that “studying one’s mother tongue is always an indispensable focus of public education while studying a foreign language is a personal choice.” New learning methods
Increasing numbers of people have been questioning the effectiveness of the China’s English learning obsession. Some say that the English examination system in the country needs to change as it puts too much emphasis on grades and ignores the development of student’s comprehensive language capabilities.
Bao Guangjian， a radar systems engineer in Beijing， said that his English classes in school involved little oral English training， and that he could hardly utter a word when he first had to speak to someone face-to-face.
“My English studies in college were all about memorizing the CET-4 （College English Test Band 4） vocabulary and writing mock exam papers. I have a relatively large vocabulary， but I can only understand little more than 20 percent of a basic conversation in English，” Bao said.
“We do not want students to devote too much time to repetitive learning of English grammar. This kind of learning process makes speaking and listening weaker，” said Li Yi， a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. “Current English education methods and the entire structure of assessment programs have to be rethought.”
The reforms in Beijing and other places have unleashed a torrent of support from netizens who have long complained about the huge burden brought by excessive English examinations.
According to an online survey initiated by news portal Sina.com on October 21， around 72.5 percent of the respondents supported lessening the importance of English in gaokao， while 22.7 percent opposed it.
Li said that China’s test-oriented English education was ineffective in making students more internationalized.
“I find that there are many college students who have good English grades but are actually‘deaf and dumb’ when it comes to using the language for communicating. Many of them also know very little about Western culture，” Li noted.
Chu Zhaohui， a research fellow with the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， said that reducing English’s share of the total college entrance exam score does not mean that the importance attached to the language has lessened. Instead， according to him， it intends to highlight practical application of the language. For example， after the reform of English testing is implemented， the percentage of points allocated to listening comprehension will actually increase to 30 percent， compared to the 20 percent it accounted for before. Sang told Beijing Review he expects further reforms by Beijing’s education authorities to make the learning of the language more application-oriented.
Despite widespread opposition to excessive focus on exams， many parents said that they still attach great importance to their children’s English education as it continues to have an impact on their future.
“English learning can help broaden children’s horizons and help them understand different cultures，” said Chen Weiping， father of an 8-year-old who opposes Wang’s call to scrap English classes in primary schools.
“Primary school students studying English is fine. Just don’t give them too many exams，”Chen said.
Parent enthusiasm for extracurricular English training programs has not dampened either. Cheng Da， father of a fourth-grade student， said that his son’s English training programs， which focus on speaking ability， cost his family more than 10，000 yuan （$1，600） a year.
“Of all the subjects taught in schools， English is the most useful， as it facilitates communication，” Cheng said. “Even if English was no longer tested in the college entrance exam， I would not stop supporting my son’s oral English lessons.”
In September， the Ministry of Education issued the second draft of regulations on reducing students’ academic burdens. It proposed canceling unified English examinations in primary schools in an attempt to make English education less test-oriented.
Experts and the public have generally expressed support for the initiative， saying it will help lighten students’ workload while allowing them to focus more on cultural and practical subjects.